Posted on 02/06/2007 6:18:29 PM PST by calcowgirl
A Department of Homeland Security official admitted today the agency misled Congress when it contended it possessed investigative reports proving Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean confessed guilt and declared they "wanted to shoot some Mexicans" prior to the incident that led to their imprisonment.
The admission came during the testimony of DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner before the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, according to Michael Green, press secretary for Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
Culberson was questioning Skinner about a meeting DHS officials had Sept. 26 with him and three other Republican congressman from Texas, Reps. Ted Poe, Michael McCaul and Kenny Marchant.
WND previously reported that at that meeting the DHS Inspector General's office asserted it had documentary evidence Ramos and Compean:
2. stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;
3. stated that day they "wanted to shoot a Mexican";
4. were belligerent to investigators;
5. destroyed evidence and lied to investigators.
This prompted a startled and angry response from the congressman.
"You lied to me and you lied to all of us," Culberson charged. "Your office tried to paint a picture of Ramos and Compean as dirty cops, and now you come before this committee and tell us you never had the information to back up those claims."
Ramos and Compean began prison sentences last month after their actions in the shooting of a drug smuggler who was granted immunity to testify against them.
Responding to Skinner's testimony yesterday, Poe said it "explains why DHS has been stonewalling Congress."
"DHS didn't turn over the reports to us to back up their September 26 accusations for one simple reason – the reports never existed," the Texas congressman said.
"Why did it take DHS four months to admit their error?" he asked. "I wonder how much more has DHS told the public and Congress about Ramos and Compean that simply isn't true?"
Poe said he's determined to get to the bottom of DHS's claim.
"I expect this new revelation will lead to a lot more questions before we're done," he said.
Andy Ramirez, who has been involved with the case as chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, told WND the DHS's actions "represent obstruction of justice, and they should be held in contempt of Congress, and, if possible, prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
"This admission today is yet more proof of how they are willing to distort the facts, as I have charged all along, in order to ensure a conviction," he said.
Maybe he chose not to be in the SHU. You are locked down 23 hours of every 24 hour day. No contact, no TV, nothing to do. I wouldn't want to do it. Stop trashing people before you even know any of the facts. Everyone is incompetent and stupid in your eyes. Scuffles like he went through probably play out thousands of times a day in the country's prisons. It's not club med.
Thanks, I like Ensign. Perhaps he's staying up on the latest info.
Wow you are really connected, did the nurse call you directly or just leave you a voicemail?????
Lou Dobbs is an ideologue. He is not neutral. I doubt if his talking heads are either.
If they die in prison, their blood will be on the hands of Johnny Sutton and his superiors. No doubt the defenders of Sutton and his superiors on this thread will regard it as being as righteous as the killing of Jeffrey Dahmer.
Thank you!
However, as to the spat on this thread about the OIG claims, I note the following:
1. The entire source for this story is the press secretary to a Congressman. Presumably the transcript of the hearing mentioned should be available soon, which would tell us exactly what was said by whom,
2. The crux of the complaint seems to be that at some previous meeting, which WND says involved "deputies" from the IG's office, certain claims were made, and that now Skinner (the head man) says that the claims were wrong. Unless there is some claim that SKINNER was in the earlier meeting, it is hard to see how HE is "lying," as some have claimed. I don't read the earlier story as actually making the claim that Skinner was there, though there is some insinuation. And the quote attributd to Skinner that "whoever told who that was wrong" strongly implies that HE wasn't there.
3. Unless there is a transcript of that earlier meeting, I would be interested in any reports from those present as to what was actually said at the earlier meeting, and whether there is any agreement as to what was said there.
Perhaps some of these facts will come out as we go along.
4. I do agree that the trial transcript should be made available, but that is in the hands of the District Court, not the DOJ, and it is not terribly unusual for that to take a few months. Appeals sometimes get delayed considerably by waiting for the transcript.
Fact is no one in Congress cares when you get right down to it.
Apparently, Ramos's family felt that solitary confinement wasn't acceptable to them. I was shocked at the time that they didn't realize that he'd be safer there than with the general population.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1773077/posts
"Border Patrol agent held in solitary confinement
WorldNetDaily ^ | January 23, 2007 | Jerome R. Corsi
Posted on 01/24/2007 12:48:21 PM AKST by YoungAmerican84
Border Patrol agent held in solitary confinement 'They act like he's Charles Manson,' father-in-law tells WND Posted: January 23, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos embraced his wife, Monica Ramos, two days before he was sentenced to 11 years in prison (Courtesy El Paso Times)
Imprisoned former Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos not only is being held in prison for trying to halt a fleeing drug smuggler, he's being held in solitary confinement treated as if he were Charles Manson, a relative told WND in an exclusive interview.
Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, told WND that Ramos is being held in conditions usually reserved for extraordinarily dangerous or trouble-making inmates.
"They have Ignacio in a 6 foot by 12 foot cell," Loya told WND in a telephone interview from El Paso. "There are no bars, just a steel door, and no window. He has no television and nothing to do. He is fed in his cell and let out only for one hour after 23 hours in the cell. He is then taken to a room with a television where he is allowed to watch the TV for an hour before he is returned to solitary confinement."
Our identity that McCain actually had the audacity to ridicule (in a closed door fundraiser a few months ago)...by calling us "nativest."
If this is true, this confirms how corrupt and sick our government is. It is clear that it is long past time to clean house, send everybody in government packing, and start over with the Constitution and a new Amendment that stipulates that the Constitution and the BOR are not up for interpretation, alteration, manipulation or any other weasal word that means changing the meaning and/or intent of the Constitution.
If the House had any cajones, they would immediately issue a writ of habeas corpus to get Ramos and Campean to appear bfore Congress and testify what occurred. Then, because their Constitutional rights were violated by the very government charged with protecting them, both border guards should be released on their own recognizance pending further investigation and being recalled to testify again before Congress . . . . anytime in the next 50 - 80 years.
It hasn't taken the DHS long to begin to rot and develop a major stench. The heads of the DHS, the alleged DHS investigator filing the false report, the DHS agency head that allowed this horrible miscarriage of justice to occur, should ALL be thrown in a pit about 125 feet BELOW the jail. America is supposed to be the land where the good guys run things, NOT a strong man, 3rd world, banana republic!!
This makes me so angry I can barely see to type. For the DHS official to admit this blatant miscarriage of justice glibly without any concern for the outrage their false charges have caused is not only despicable - it spells the end of one of the most brilliant experiments in government ever conceived - all because of a few rotten, corrupt, fishwrap politicians.
Disgraceful doesn't begin to describe it!!!
You are thinking of state and county prisons and jails for th emost part. Federal prisons simply do not tolerate this level of disorder.
But....but....but...they're doing the jobs us dumb, lazy Americans won't do, remember?
Well, he has been moved to solitary now that someone found there way into his locked cell, while he was sleeping, and beat him with steel-toed boots.
Thank you, Carolyn! It would seem that I get my z's mixed up. ;)
I couldn't do that for 1 week, much less 11 years.
The man was in his supposedly locked cell, sleeping. Someone gained access to his cell in the night to perform this beating' they found the key somewhere -- so what kind of prison is this that people are not safe sleeping at night?
What an assinine statement. These BP agents have already been convicted of a charge which was invented solely to deal with habitual criminals, not cops doing their jobs. Any fool knows cops are at special risk in prison, yet somebody let Ramos get attacked. That's dereliction of duty at the very least, and possibly corruption of a murderous kind. Yet you sneer that they should expect hard times in jail. These guys shouldn't even be in jail!
If you think public employee should get hard time for making a mistake in an extremely high-stress situation (making an arrest), then what about DHS and prison bureaucrats sitting on their a$$es, with plenty of time to premeditate their actions.
I think you're putting yourself out on a limb. Your side is becoming more untenable by the minute. Frankly, I hope your limb gets cut off. You have no mercy for these agents; you deserve none for yourself.
Ramo's attorney was on BOR tonight to discuss the beating ... she is very upset the warden will not allow an MD to see Ramos and stated the prison nurse said he needed to see a doctor and have X-rays.
Returning to Mexico, Aldrete-Davila related his misfortunes to his mother, who contacted the mother-in-law of Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez. Sanchez in turn tipped off a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who went to Mexico to offer immunity if Osbaldo would act as a state’s witness against Ramos and Compean: the feds wanted to prosecute the agents shooting the alien narcotics supplier.
To sweeten the immunity deal, the feds paid for Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila’s medical treatment of his ailing backside – a taxpayer-funded recuperation at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. He showed his gratitude by breaking his immunity agreement in October 2005, when officers say he attempted to smuggle 1,000 pounds of marijuana into America. The prosecution further extended its immunity to this felony and sealed the indictment from jurors. Aldrete-Davila repaid this new shower of grace by suing the federal government for $5 million, alleging the shooting violated his civil rights. However, he agreed to help in their criminal prosecution, as well, and the feds are apparently happy to collaborate with the pusher as long as he helped put effective lawmen behind bars.
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